"This one small step for humanity will prove to be a big leap for the entire human race." The person who stepped on the moon said this. It was dated July 21, 1969, and Neil Armstrong made history by stepping on the moon. After this, five more American expeditions were sent to the moon.
Eugene Sernan was the last astronaut to reach the moon in 1972. After them, no human has gone to the moon so far. But after half a century, America has announced that it will send a human mission to the moon. President Trump signed an order related to it on Monday.
But the question arises that why did America or any other country not send any interim traveler to the moon for about half a century?
Screw on budget
Actually sending a person to the moon is a costly deal. Michael Rich, a professor of astronomy at the University of California at Los Angeles, says, "It took a lot of money to send a human mission to the moon, while there was little scientific gain."
According to experts, there were more political reasons than scientific interest in this mission. This was done in the space control race.
In the year 2004, the immediate President of the US, W. George Bush, proposed a human mission like Trump. It has an estimated budget of US $ 104,000 million. But due to the huge budget, at that time this project went on the back burner. Experts fear the same thing this time, as Donald Trump did not even consult Sinnett before signing the order.
Increased interest to go to the moon
Michael Rich says, "Because the scientific advantages of such a mission are small, it is a difficult task to obtain congressional approval for its expensive budget." Another reason is that NASA has been engaged in completing other important projects for years.
Over the years, NASA has researched many new satellites, the discovery of Jupiter, the launch in orbit of the International Space Station, other galaxies and planets. NASA has been advocating sending human missions to the moon again for years. He has said that there are still many scientific reasons for this.
NASA believes that much new information will be provided by the arrival of humans on the moon. Interest in going to the moon has increased in the last few years.
Plan to reach the moon
Efforts have been made in the past, both in government and private, in which not only the announcement of going to the moon but ambitious schemes like a human settlement on the moon were also introduced. These plans are based on low-cost technology and the construction of spacecraft. China plans to reach the moon by 2018 and Russia by 2031.
Meanwhile, many private undertakings have also talked of bringing a space business model, in which there is a plan to mine minerals on the moon and sell stones brought from the moon as prized pieces. America does not want to be behind anyone in this race of space. The budget created this time for NASA's plan is one percent of the general budget. Whereas for previous space programs it was 5%.
You must be logged in to post a comment.